Following on from my scary bonding post.... I thought that once Totti and Brody had bonded, they could live in their seperate des res's and be let out to play together, I didn't realise they would have to live together. The issues I have with that are
1. Totti is immaculately clean and must eat all his caecotrophes as I never see them and Brody is a mucky pup, leaving uneaten splattered caecotrophes all over the place. Following the emperiences on this forum, I am changing their diet from Excel to Allen & Page to see if the higher fibre content helps. I have also reduced Brody's pellet intake to encourage her to eat her hay - that would be difficult to achieve if they shared.

2. I am going on holiday for 3 weeks in November and leave my neighbour has to look after my "family" - no mean feat as it consists of the 2 bunnies, 2 chinchillas and 2 fish tanks......... She successfully looks after them whilst they are in their own cages but I don't want to add to her stress by her having to keep an eye on whether they are getting along or not.

so, my question is, is it fair for me to halt the bonding process now I've started it? Would I be able to pick it up again when I'm back from hols in December (presuming the poo issue is sorted)?

Jill

Pendragon

15-09-2004, 09:14 AM

1. ....Following the emperiences on this forum, I am changing their diet from Excel to Allen & Page to see if the higher fibre content helps. I have also reduced Brody's pellet intake to encourage her to eat her hay - that would be difficult to achieve if they shared.

Changing both their diets is a good move... you may have this well sorted out within a few days not weeks, once they are used to it! But be aware there are just some bunnies who never really eat their caecals no matter what you do.

so, my question is, is it fair for me to halt the bonding process now I've started it? Would I be able to pick it up again when I'm back from hols in December (presuming the poo issue is sorted)?

I'm not an expert on bonding by any means and have very little experience of it, but from all I've read and seen unfold in others' experiences, seems they'll either bond quickly or it will take a long time!

So..... by the time your holiday arrives, you can look forward to two clean bunnies with no caecals, living together in perfect harmony.... or by then, you will know if the bonding isn't working, so you will be able to leave them in separate hutches and have another go at it when you return.

There is plenty of time until November so I would sit down, have a nice cup of tea and stop panicking :)

PS: Going anywhere nice?

luvabun

15-09-2004, 10:27 AM

Sure am.. I'm off to Oz. A few days in Sydney (with of course a visit to the Koala Sanctuary) then a few days in Port Stephens where there's loads of resident bottle nosed dolphins and the humpbacks should be migrating past there. then onto Hamilton Island, where amongst other things you can kayak where there's turtles and sea eagles. Finally onto Cairns. So should be an amazing trip.

I'm concerned that Brody may never learn to eat her caecals. I don't really want to expose Totti to the risk of flystrike. I know there's Rearguard as Brody had to have applied this summer so I guess its a matter of weighing up the pro's and con's of together/ seperate.

Jill

Bunnysam

15-09-2004, 02:43 PM

Hi Jill

Just thought I would say that my Billy bunny was on Excel and had the same "mucky" problem. I would get home from work and it would be everywhere. However when I got Rosie I had her on Allen & Page from the start and slowly changed Billy's diet over to Allen & Page as well and sure enough the problem started to disappear. I also found that as soon as the two of them were bonded Billy NEVER did muckies.

Maybe its because theres a little lady around now!

No, seriously I swear by Allen & Page. Both bunnies are doing very well on it.

HAVE AN AMAZING HOLIDAY!!!

Tamsin

15-09-2004, 03:20 PM

As Sue said by November you'll know whether they get on or not. Once a pair of neutered male/female buns are living together it would be very very very unusual for them to fall out.

You could spend the next 10 days gradually swapping their food over and letting them have several hours a day play time. If both go well by the end of that you should be able to have them living together perminantly and you still have a month to keep an eye out before you go away :)

Tam

sunshine

15-09-2004, 07:50 PM

I agree with all the other posts. By November your two bunnies will most probably be bonded forever. I have only ever had experience of bonding Bambi and Truffle together but I've never seen them be aggressive towards one another. In the beginning Truffle had a "high perch" where she could escape from Bambi if she was fed up with him. Now they are together 24/7 and get on great. I would just play it be ear but in my experience they will probably bond very quickly.

luvabun

16-09-2004, 07:21 PM

Thanks all - as always loads of good advice. I'm going to persevere with the bonding sessions (seems a shame to deny them after they got on so, er, well.... even if it was only establishing dominance).